Metamorphosis
by Sealixir
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir finally defeated Hawkmoth, but what comes next? It's senior year, and Adrien and Marinette only have a few months left to figure out their future: with friends, their super-lives, with family, and passions. Slight AU as they deal with depression and suicide, along with change and redemption. Marinette X Adrien; Nino X Alya; Review please-y?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

"Maybe."

Marinette rested her arms on the railing of her balcony, overlooking the tiny peek of Paris' cityscape. Her hands met palm to palm, and her eyes slid from the horizon to her fingers as they laced themselves together. The fingernails on her hand were messy and torn, nervously tugged and chewed from the build-up of anxiety over the last few weeks. She'd never been very good with change, but she was beginning to realize that change was everywhere. From the way the sun dipped behind the buildings, turning them golden and raspberry, to the callouses that had gradually grown on her palms from her adventures.

Callouses that had grown over her years of school, so slowly that she'd barely noticed it. Marinette was grateful for them, they made it easier to move across the city, longer. However, perhaps it's vain, but a girlish part of her wondered if she'd ever lose them.

Then, her focus shifted from her hand to the street below her, barely populated as the evening grew. She inspected the street, the sidewalk, the concrete, leaning slightly over the edge of her railing. Maybe...no...there'd be too much of a mess.

"Mari?" A voice sounded from behind her, just as her eyes were beginning to glaze over. She jolted into a back straight, standing position, only to relax completely when a hand rested on her elbow. "What are thinking about?" Chat, having traipsed into her personal space once again, asked with a brow raised, innocent expression.

Marinette twisted her lips, a deep, sore vein throbbing slightly in her core. Still, she let her expression rest into a smile. "Good evening, Chat. I was just wondering about...actually your press conference earlier today." She murmured, although not a total lie, she still felt like a liar saying it. "I thought you might be thinking about it as well."

Chat dropped one eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. "Why would you be worrying about that?" He moved to her side, sitting on the railing with his back to the city. Marinette observes him curiously. "Even I'm not mulling over it." He commented off hand, looking down and around at her balcony setting. "Hey what's that? Is it your diary?" Chat asked excitedly, grabbing for a dull brown, leather notebook playfully. Mari snatched it up, even though Chat appeared to only be kidding about trying to take it.

"Something like that. Hey, don't change the subject! I've been worrying, you know, and you can't pretend you aren't confused." She accused out of concern, and Chat widened his eyes. Marinette gave him a small smile, trying her best to be encouraging but not pressuring. "After all, you've been dealing with Hawkmoth for what, years now? You must be wondering about what you'll do next or if you should be using your abilities in a different city because someone might need you or if you should enlist in the military or if you should take a brake and consider your job done or if...oh my gosh I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't need me listing off your problems for you." Even though they were her problems too. Ladybug had kept her cool and retracted any of her nervous thoughts from public eye, including Chat Noir's.

He tilted his head back and laughed, good heartedly, with beats of innocence. "That's just it, Mari. I'm not pretending at all, I mean, I guess I would be concerned about that if I was alone." Chat Noir gave her an indulging smile, and Marinette felt for not the first time that she had no grasp on what he was thinking. "But I'm not. Whatever I do, I do it with Ladybug by my side. That's why I'm not worried." Marinette squirmed under his words, feeling as if the wind was pushing around her heart as wildly as her hair.

It scrambled in front of her face and pushed her pigtails past her ears. She snagged at her bangs and pulled the back, probably looking peculiar to Chat Noir, who's short hair flowed model-like. "But what, if you can't stay with Ladybug after this? Aren't you worried about everything changing?" Marinette let the words out almost like a confession.

Chat Noir started to say something, but Marinette shook her head to stop him. She dropped her hands and turned toward the wind so it blew the hair out of her eyes, causing her to squint. "I'm graduating this year, and I know you are too, from what little you've told me on these visits. Soon we'll be saying goodbye to friends and...maybe even family for a little while. Soon...we'll have to start over in new communities, at college or simply in a place without a daily schedule to go by. I'm scared that...I'll miss my friends too much." She crossed her arms, not quite sure why she was saying so much to him now. He surely, and neither did she, need a reminder that not only were their super lives changing, but their personal lives too.

"Marinette, I will never leave you."

She whipped herself around to stare at his serious, green, masked eyes. "What?" Did he know, had she given something away?

"Neither will your friends. They love you, and care for you very deeply, nothing with them is going to change." Chat Noir assured her with a warm smile, a feature of his that she'd noticed often lit up how truly strong he was. Behind, or rather, before being a flirt and a dork, he was brave and...selfless. "Life is full of changes, and it's going to be fun, just as much as scary. This is the time of our lives, and you can't spend it worrying about it." Chat grew excited and then serious, and then closer physically to her. She stared up at him, amazed by his words, until he raised his hand and poked her in the cheek. "Mari, I'm not leaving until you smile."

Marinette widened her eyes, but still a genuine smile graced her face. "Oh Chat, sometimes you just know the exact right things to say. Thank you." She breathed out and he nodded, stepping away.

"Now that my princess is cheerful again, I can rest soundly." He winked, causing her to roll her eyes, jokingly annoyed spare for the smile that hadn't yet left her face. She caught a glimpse of the moon rising up, and stepped for to lightly push Chat on the shoulder.

"Go on, kitty. It's past your bed time."

"Nah, I only sleep in cat-naps." He responded with a grin before vaulting off the roof, toward some unknown home in Paris. Marinette watched his figure curve up and down, getting smaller and smaller, until she lost sight of him.

She shivered for a moment under the wind, and then slipped into her room, shutting the entrance and basking in the peace. Marinette curled up on the edge of her bed, and Tikki flew out from beside her pillow. The kwami settled on her shoulder, but Marinette was too lost in thoughts to strike up conversation. 'I will never leave you,' he'd said. Although her heart was pounding from the declaration of loyalty, she knew with a bitter taste that...even if he meant that, it didn't mean her friends meant it.

They were all going to go their separate ways after high school and...drift apart? Forget...about each other? Alya, Nino, Nathaniel, Adrien, even...geeze even Chloe had become more bearable over their years of high school. Marinette guessed Chloe had just needed to mature a bit in the real world, because her snooty attitude eventually fell away, revealing the respectable, if annoying as hell, girl underneath. Alya and Marinette often went to the same parties over the past senior year, hanging out with the girls in their grade and expanding their friend horizon. She'd even gotten closer to Adrien and Nino, even if her crush on Adrien had withered after so much time unrealized.

Was...was all of that disappearing?

And what about her- Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette would be leaving Paris, heading to her school of choice, scholarship included. But Chat... 'Whatever I do, I do it with Ladybug by my side.' Marinette's lip quivered, and Tikki just barely leaned against her cheek before she pulled her knees up to her chest and burst into tears.

"Oh Marinette...this is just a part of growing up." Tikki soothed, flying across the room and back to grab a tissue. Marinette wiped away her tears, but they kept coming, and eventually she just buried her face in her hands.

"Tikki, did you hear what he said? He thinks I'm, he thinks I'm never going to leave him. But I have to go to New York! And- and, now I feel as if...as if I've betrayed him." The pit of hurt in her only grew with this new sensation, and a sick, twisted voice in her head reminded her...that she didn't _have_ to do anything. She could always give up, since she was such a failure at this anyway. What did it matter, getting into college and defeating Hawkmoth, for both personas, it wouldn't matter if she ended up betraying the trust of everyone she cared about.

Marinette gave a quick shake of her head, and then threw her head up, spooking Tikki. The kwami exclaimed as Marinette gave her cheeks one simultaneous slap from both hands. "Marineeeeettttee!" She called and Marinette breathed in and out deeply.

"Sorry Tikki, I was just pulling myself together. I've seen it done in all the mangas, Nath sometimes sketches it in his." Marinette explained and Tikki flew up to her face to hug her nose. "Tikki..."

"Marinette...are you thinking about... _that_ again?" Tikki asked gently, but firm.

Marinette opened her palms, and so her kwami could settle into them. She lightly stroked her head, but inevitably had to give her a rueful smile. "Not...as bad as last time...but still, yes. Don't get me wrong! I don't want to... not really. It's just...it's just _there_ , ya know?" Marinette's tone was morose, and almost defeated.

Tikki grabbed hold of her thumbs and hugged them. Although their conversation made Marinette feel sick, she allowed herself to try convince herself that she was alright. That it would all be alright. Marinette held Tikki as she turned off the lights and climbed into her bed. Finally her Kwami headed to her pillow and fell asleep.

Marinette stared at her ceiling for hours, thinking about this and that and who and what, finally falling asleep sometime after midnight.

* * *

*Earlier*

"Plaaaaaaagggggg." Adrien groaned, falling onto his bed with a depressed ploof. The day had been difficult, sure, but taxing even more was the knowledge that he had to carry home after Ladybug and Chat Noir's press conference. His father was sitting by the fireplace when he got there, stripped of his powers, but not of his power.

Adrien hadn't known what to expect. A changed man, someone that would embrace him, his son, and try to start anew...as a family? Maybe he would get home and there would be a new person, in place of his father. Someone who actually loved him. Someone who'd open the curtains too wide and eat breakfast with him, hell maybe even make breakfast sometimes. As these thoughts had flooded Adrien's head, he ran home that afternoon, hoping for the first time.

What he found was a man, sitting by the fire place, who refused to talk. To him, to Natalie, to any of the phone calls or workers. Adrien even considered changing into Chat Noir at some point and pretending to break into the house, half a mind to just give him the damn miraculous if it would just get his father to talk to him.

He was scared out of his mind, that his father would...would be gone forever. Because, even if he'd done many horrible things, tried to hurt many people, he was still Adrien's father.

"Listen, kid...it's not unreasonable if you need to take a break." Plagg said, and Adrien shot up from the bed, to his knees. Plagg was acting serious, very serious, and almost...comforting. In the dim room that Adrien had blocked any light from, with the curtains taped shut and the lights mostly shut of, Plagg's eyes gave off a green glow. "You've done well so far kid, you can take off the ring for a bit, focus on normal life. The stupid press can wait." Plagg scoffed and Adrien softened his eyes on his kwami.

"You may have a horrible attitude sometimes, but you're my friend Plagg. I don't want to see you go." Adrien scratched behind Plagg's tiny ears, and the little kwami pretended it didn't feel nice.

Adrien stood up then, and began pacing around the room. It might be a good idea though, to take some time off in general. Surely Ladybug wouldn't mind, she'd mentioned before that she was a senior in high school, and that she needed to take extra care to her classes after spending so much time patrolling. "Except when you take a shower...you usually take it off then." Plagg quipped and Adrien let out an unexpected laugh, swiping for the kwami.

"Of course I take it off _then_ Plagg!" Adrien quit his pacing and chased after the tiny black cat, who was cackling and flying out of Adrien's reach every time he got close.

Then, just as Plagg was about to up the challenge, Adrien's foot caught on a the edge of the white couch that faced the large, covered window. He face planted on the carpet, letting out a long groan, which broke out into a laugh after a few seconds. He rolled over and held his nose, realizing with a sort of joy that he didn't give a damn what happened to his nose. His father was downstairs, probably still sitting by the fireplace. Who knows if he'll even have to model anymore!?

"I broke my wielder...I wonder if Master Fu will let me have another." Plagg muttered, resting on Adrien's knee as the boy sat up.

"I'm getting too ahead of myself Plagg. We've finally defeated Hawkmoth and for once...nothing is certain." Adrien stood up and rubbed his nose a little bit more, sighing. He suddenly thought, and it was clear to him, that he didn't want to be alone. "Plagg, do you have enough energy to go out?" Adrien asked and the little kwami spun in the air lazily.

"I don't knoooooow kid."

Adrien shook his head fondly, searching around his room for a minute for the last bit of camembert. He chucked it to Plagg before pulling off the curtains to reveal an almost sunset sky. He popped open a window, leaning out with relief. The city smelled good to Adrien, a contrast to his room, and he grinned, knowing exactly who he was planning on visiting. But, he couldn't show up now, it'd be kinda creepy to randomly appear before sunset.

So he would go visit Marinette as Chat Noir, which actually wasn't that unusual for him. They met often, as Adrien found it was nice to be around her, especially as Chat Noir, since she wasn't so nervous that way. Adrien ran around his room and quickly scribbled a note down on a sticky-note, claiming that he was going to bed earlier due to an exam the next day, and stuck it outside his door. Hopefully that would deter Natalie, who was all for good grades.

"Alright Plagg, claws out!"


	2. Till the Thunder

Marinette glanced at her watch and frantically began to clear off her desk. She shoved her leather notebook into the lowest drawer, than snatched her phone. "Marinette! Alya's here!" Her mothers voice barely pierced through her closed trapdoor, but Marinette deciphered it anyway, having gotten used to it by now.

She grabbed her bag and waved at Tikki to fly into her purse. "Marinette!" Her mom called again, just as Marinette was hopping in place, trying to get her shoes on. Finally, she had everything ready, spare for her loose hanging hair. She'd only woken up thirty minutes ago, then proceeded to spend most of the morning at her desk, procrastinating. She grabbed hair bands and opened the trap door, scrambling down the ladder.

"Coming mama!" She called over her shoulder as she shut the door. When she made it off the ladder, she barely took a second to wave goodbye to her parents before taking off for the door.

The morning was beautiful and hectic, the bakery flooded with people who were buying sweets after sweets, apparently for celebration. Marinette stuck one hair band in her mouth and the other around her wrist as she squirmed through the small, early morning crowd. The door was propped open, to provide air current for the customers, and as Marinette escaped, she let out a relieved, if confused sigh.

"Good morning sunshine!" Alya exclaimed and wrapped an arm around Marinette's shoulder shaking her a bit. "Can you believe it? The whole city is celebrating!" Alya took her hand and guided Marinette through the busy streets, toward their highschool. Marinette accepted it, but she still hadn't had a chance to put her hair up yet.

Marinette rubbed her eyes with her free hand, wishing she'd gotten better sleep the night before. She had been restless, tossing and turning all night, with strange, unsettling dreams that she couldn't fully remember. At least the sun was rising, and the sky looked breathless as always. "Alya, what exactly are we celebrating? And, why'd you come all the way to my house to walk me to school today?" Marinette inquired groggily, and was unprepared for the hands that stopped, and then planted themselves on her shoulder.

Alya shook her back and forth and then side to side, making Marinette's world spin. "Are you kidding me?! Have you been living under a rock? Yesterday Ladybug and Chat Noir said they were almost finished! Their super villain had been foiled, his hideout scouted, and his powers taken. Talk about ending the weekend with a bang." Alya gushed on about what Marinette already knew, but she didn't mind hearing her best friend so passionate.

Marinette eased Alya's shaking to a stop and this time pulled her forward, weaving around people on the sidewalk. "You're exaggerating. They said that they _think_ it'll be peaceful for a while, but they really don't know for sure. Who knows? Maybe a bigger, badder baddy is waiting for them to let their guards down?" Marinette pointed out. Alya sighed, poking Marinette's nose with an indulging smile.

"Lighten up, I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir know exactly what their doing."

* * *

"Brooo, I'm so pumped! Alya is gonna be more hyper a chipmunk on coffee today. That means getting to hear her rant for hours." Nino smiled to himself, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Adrien's friend looked utterly relaxed, while Adrien was tight in his chair, his arms crossed to support his head on the desk.

The morning had been full of furtive attempts at reconciling with his father. In the end, he'd been dismissed, with the understanding not to bother him for the rest of the day."Yeah man, that sounds like an earful lot of fun- I mean, an awful lot of fun." Adrien droned, his head pointed to the left. The girls weren't even here yet, and Adrien needed a 'pick-me-up' stat, but Alya going on about the super-life didn't seem ideal.

"Come on, bro. Not that I don't mind you not falling head over model-boots for Alya, that would be awkward as we're friends." Marinette...Adrien wonders how she's doing. Maybe he should...

"But you love hearing about Ladybug, and so does Alya. You two get along wickedly...so what's with the downer attitude?"

Adrien imagined the way Marinette had smiled to him last night, and he shot up in his chair. "That's it!" He exclaimed, scaring Nino enough to make him jump out of his 'chilled' pose. The perfect pick-me-up was helping out others! And what had Marinette just said last night? That she was worried about losing her friends. "Listen Nino, when Marinette comes in, I've got an idea." Adrien looked expectantly at his friend, grinning excitedly.

Nino raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged and leaned on the desk with one arm, smirking a bit. "Marinette, eh? Finally gonna ask h-" Adrien stuffed a hand over Nino's mouth as the classroom door swung wide open. Alya walked in backwards, talking animatedly to Marinette.

When Alya walked in, the whole class of people got quiet. The two girls stopped in their tracks and stared up at the class, slightly shocked. Adrien and Nino turned themselves to look as well, but before Adrien could question it, Alix raced down the steps and took Alya's hand. "Come on, come on! We've been waiting for you! You haven't updated the ladyblog, do you know anything new-do you have any ideas?" Alix asked, and Alya barely had a chance to throw her bag on her chair before she was pulled toward the middle of the desks, with most of the class's attention on her.

A small giggle caught Adrien's attention, and he snapped his head around to see Marinette watching Alya with an amused expression. "Yoo, Marinette, what's up?" Nino asked, elbow jabbing Adrien lightly in the side as Marinette took her seat. She looked at Nino and smiled, and that's when Adrien noticed something looked different.

"Good morning Nino, pretty relieved actually. Alya's so excited but, it's a bit much for so early in the morning. Maybe that'll get it out of her system." Marinette glanced behind her, before fishing through her bag for something. "Of course, knowing Alya, that's wishful thinking." She muttered after a second, pulling out various notebooks, and her tablet, apparently to no avail.

Nino looked at Adrien expectantly, but Adrien shook his head. At that, Nino gave him a smug wink before moving to join Alya's attentive crowd at the back of the classroom. It was too late now to ask Nino to help, Adrien would just have to try to cheer her up on his own. "Marinette, I like your hair like that." Adrien commented, and Marinette paused her rummaging.

"Ah...thanks." She responded, brushing her ponytail with one hand. "I lost my other hair tie on the way here..." She sat down her bag, ceasing her search. Adrien thought she looked awkward...not in a bad way just, that maybe what he said had been weird. Still, he knew that since they first became friends, she had become much more relaxed around him. It was quite a relief actually.

"What I meant was-" Adrien started, but their teacher interrupted him before he could finish. Marinette looked away from him and to Alya as the crowd around her dispersed. Adrien turned around in his seat and decided to plot some more before continuing with his mission.

Their teacher droned on about some lesson that they knew was useless, the kids knew were useless, and somewhere, Adrien's mother would forgive him for not paying attention, because she too knew that at the end of their senior year, the lesson was useless. Adrien twiddled with his pencil and went over different scenarios in his head.

The Chat Noir inside him had to be pushed away, because at this point even he guessed that trying to flirt with Marinette wouldn't do her any good. Adrien snuck a glance behind him, seeing Marinette leaning on her arm, a slight frown masking her face. She was worried they were all going to drift apart, huh. Adrien hadn't really thought about it...he was just glad that he'd stayed in this school so far as he had.

He spent the morning brainstorming unsuccessfully, but just as he was about to turn around and suggest the four of them eat lunch together, he gets a call on his phone. "Alya, I'll be right back, I have to take this." Marinette said suddenly, standing up from her chair and running out of the classroom just as the bell rang. Adrien grabbed his phone and waved to Nino before answering it, walking to the wall instead of out of the classroom like Marinette did.

"Hello?" He asked, but so far there was only static.

" _You two need to come see me as soon as possible. Something very wrong is happening to Nooroo."_ Master Fu's voice came over the line, and Adrien almost exclaimed his name out loud. Almost. His hand flew over his mouth to stop himself.

" _Master Fu? How urgent is this?"_ Ladybug. Adrien gripped his phone tighter, but then relaxed when caught the alarmed stares of Nino and Alya. Adrien smiled innocently.

" _I do not know as of yet. I must go._ " The line clicked closed ominously.

"Wait!" Adrien called into the phone, but it was too late, Master Fu was gone. Alya and Nino started whispering to each other, and Adrien sighed frustrated. If something was wrong with Nooroo, it would be his father's fault. They'd all agreed to let Gabriel Agreste be, as he couldn't do anymore harm as a super villain, but now Adrien wondered if they'd need to...interrogate him.

" _Chat Noir?_ "

Oh.

It was

Ladybug.

"Yes?" Adrien responded, taking all of his self control to keep his phone up to his ear. She sounded different over the phone...they'd never talked like this before. Without being transformed, Adrien honestly didn't feel as confident as he usually did, especially with Alya and Nino each keeping an eye on him. He turned, putting the phone in his left and moving his right hand to relax behind his neck, leaning against the wall. Hopefully it looked like he was just relaxing.

" _Listen...you can't look at the phone to hang it up. It might give our identities away._ " She instructed, and Adrien sighed into his elbow. " _In fact, you should give it to a friend to delete the call record entirely. Understand me?_ " She sounded nervous, and Adrien hated to hear her this way, like he might betray her trust.

"Of course, my lady. I'll do it right away, okay? You can trust me."

She sighed with relief on the other end of the line. " _I know._ _Thank you, Chat. When do you think you can head to Master Fu's_ " Her tone shifted instantly, and Adrien grinned to himself.

"In a few moments, I'll just skip afternoon class." He said quietly into the phone, hearing her laugh bitterly on the other side.

Even sardonic, her laugh was beautiful. " _Me too, although, I don't think today's lessons are that essential. Well, I'll see you there. Chat, don't forget to delete this._ "

"Of course, cat's honor." The line clicked without a goodbye, and Arien assumed it was due to the cat-joke. Still, he held the phone down and refused to allow himself to look at it. "Hey Nino?" He greeted as he walked back over to them. "Can you do me a favor and delete my call history? Don't ask any questions or comments and I'll treat tomorrow's coffee." Adrien offered and Nino shrugged, taking the phone and deleting it.

Nino knitted his eyebrows together. "Uh dude, you sure-"

"And a donut." Adrien added on and Nino smirked, pressing a few buttons and handing the phone back to him.

"You okay bro? You've been acting kinda strange all morning." Nino asks and it's Adrien's turn to shrug.

"I'm not feeling very well, I think it's a cold. I might have to stay home, in fact." Adrien patted Nino's shoulder. "I'm gonna head out first, but why don't you ask Alya to eat lunch?" Before Nino could say anything, Adrien grabbed his bag and trotted to the door. Just to be convincing he coughed into his elbow, and then opened the door only to see Marinette rushing in.

Her eyes met Adrien's and he had to put out a hand to steady both of them. They stayed like that for a moment, and Adrien wondered if he spooked her, when her face starts to redden. She mutters something under her breath and then pushes past him, running over to Alya. It was strange, usually she'd make some weird, but cute, remark and be a little nervous. Lately, their encounters had ended with her looking almost rejected, instead of cheerful.

Adrien wanted to say something, but then he remember Nooroo, and that Ladybug was waiting for him. Maybe after he resolved this, he'd talk to Alya and Nino, and maybe Nathaniel, about cheering her up. Assuring her that they'd stay friends, even after graduating.

For now, though, he needed to go.

Just before he left the classroom, he heard Marinette's voice above the others. "Alya, can you do me a favor?"

The hallway was surprisingly empty, and Adrien jogged out the nearest door. Plagg flew from his shirt and settled on Adrien's shoulder, while Adrien looked around to make sure there was no one to see him transform. "Alright Plagg, C-"

"You know." Plagg's casual voice interrupted Adrien, and although he wanted to rush, there was something under Plagg's voice. It was unnatural.

"Yes?" The cool spring afternoon laced a breeze through the school courtyard. Storm clouds were touching the edges of the city, but the weather that morning had said they were supposed to move around them. The closest ones already looked as if they were jutting to the east.

Plagg shifted so he was laying in the crook between Adrien's shoulder and neck. "You're handling the whole, Hawkmoth is your father thing fairly well. I thought you'd at least take a day off from school but you don't seem to have been very phased from it after yesterday. At least, you don't seem devastated, like I expected." Plagg had surprised Adrien once again, his words softening the mood.

Adrien reached his hand up tp scratch behind Plagg's ear. "I promise I'm not plotting to avenge him or anything, Plagg. I've been thinking about it a lot since it happened but...I came to the conclusion that Hawkmoth or not my father never really had that big of a presence in my life anyway. At least, not since I started going to school and taking on my own schedule. I'm almost eighteen, he can't control me anymore. I've outgrown that.

"It's come down to me wanting to enjoy my last of senior year with my friends. That's exactly what I'm going try to do. Hopefully it'll get easier..." Adrien felt better telling someone. After all, Adrien felt like it took a lot of maturity and willpower to come to this decision. "Besides, if I minimize the damage to my own life, it will be easier to forgive him later."

Plagg seemed to accept the answer. With that, Adiren transformed and took off toward Master Fu's house. From his rooftop view, he could see the rain falling over the edge of the city. Lightening cracked, and Adrien counted the seconds till the thunder.

* * *

She walked into the same room she'd brought Tikki to all that time ago. That wasn't the last time she'd seen Master Fu, in fact he'd come several to talk to her as Marinette and Ladybug. Chat Noir looked around the room, fascinated, although Ladybug was sure he'd seen it before. They'd met just outside, and Ladybug was admittedly quite happy to see Chat again, even if it was sooner than they'd expected after defeating Hawkmoth.

There was something special about being with him as Ladybug, like her worries and insecurities were numbed by her persona. They also had a history together like this. The way he'd stepped next to her confidently, with a look that told her he believed in her. She trusted him...probably more than what was safe for their identities. She hated the idea of losing this connection.

'I suppose we'd still have done some patrols together over the week, even if Hawkmoth was defeated. It's hard let it go.' She thought to herself, walking silently with Chat to a table with a gong on it. He reached out to touch it, and she smacked his hand absentmindedly, turning to call out into the house. Was it his house? She could only guess.

She didn't need to, though, because Master Fu came through the doorway in the next moment, and held up a hand. "Greetings. Come come, we have much to discuss." He said, gesturing them to follow him. Chat glanced at Ladybug, and they shared a look between them.

"So." Chat Noir spoke as Ladybug walked into the next room, following behind her. She glanced behind him, seeing him at a loss for words for once. She couldn't help but recall last night, where he spoke so...kindly of her.

Her heart swelled, letting a little bit of light shine through. She knew that she wasn't alone, and it made her truly happy. Now all they had to do was help Nooroo, and maybe she'd get a chance to...talk to him about it.

They sat down on a mat similar to the one in the first room, but on this one was Nooroo. They were lying on a pillow, their little chest heaving for breath. Ladybug's fingers brushed her lips, holding in a gasp. What had just yesterday been a soft lavender kwami was now a pale grey, and when they opened their eyes, she saw them as a vivid violet, startling.

"What's- how- are they- Master Fu?! Did we do something wrong?" Ladybug's questions burst from her mouth, a waterfall of worries pushing her heart to beat faster and faster. Master Fu shook his head, patting his hand on Ladybug's arm. "What can we do to help. That's why we're here right? Because we can do something."

Master Fu had always looked so calm, like he knew exactly what he was doing. Now that steady assurance was replaced by walls of pain.

Chat Noir put his arm around Ladybug's shoulders. For once, she didn't mind that he was...no this wasn't him coming on to her. This was him comforting her, and she deeply appreciated it.

"I should have told you two about this long before...perhaps I did not expect to come to this day so soon." Master Fu stated with difficulty. "However, now I must speak with your Kwami's. Please, if you would, de-transform."

Ladybug stared at him with a blank face, and Chat Noir's arm fell slack.


	3. And He Should Never Know

Chat Noir opened and closed his mouth repeatedly in quick succession. The small room seemed to grow smaller as Master Fu's request sunk in, and neither of the two superheroes had objected or agreed. Chat's hand moved to absentmindedly brush his ring, and he glanced over at Ladybug, whose face behind the mask had gone pale.

"But, Master Fu we thought...isn't it crucial to not reveal our identities, even to each other?" Chat asked, wanting to spare Ladybug from having to say it. He'd asked her several times over the years, and every time she seemed more uncomfortable than the last. He eventually figured that she too wouldn't mind sharing, if only for logic behind remaining anonymous.

Master Fu kneeled beside Nooroo, who has ceased heaving and now had an expression of discomfort. "Normally Chat Noir and Ladybug would share their identities once they reached an age of maturity. You have conquered your foes, and held these persona's magnificently." Master Fu gave them one short bow, and then he allowed them no time to process. "Time is of the essence, Tikki, Plagg!" Master Fu summoned them, and Chat Noir felt Plagg pull to be let out of the transformation.

Ladybug glowed a soft red, that Chat only saw for a moment before releasing the bond between himself and his kwami. When he opened his eyes again, he shifted his feet uncomfortably, staring at them as the girl to his right moved in the corner of his eye to kneel beside Nooroo. "Oh Nooroo." A high pitched voice murmured, and Adrien blinked in surprise, wondering why Ladybug's voice sounded so strange outside of the mask-

Then he realized it must be her kwami, and heat flooded his cheeks momentarily for being so dumb.

"This doesn't seem like Nooroo's other fits." Adrien could tell that Plagg is concerned, because his voice sounded scornful. Adrien finally allowed himself to look up and walked close enough to kneel next to them as well. Marinette.

She looked down sharply at Plagg, almost mimicking the reaction of her kwami. "Plagg, this is serious." Tikki scolds, and Plagg scoffs, but lays a...paw? on Nooroo's pillow.

Adrien took a deep breath, his eyes caught in the space between Nooroo and Marinette. If this had happened in their first year of service, when Adrien was so unbearably desperate to figure out who she was, it would've been too much. It wasn't that his desire to know had faded, just that over their partnership, he'd fallen too in love with her to care.

He'd always known that no matter who she was, Adrien would _know_ who she was, they'd been working together for years. Still, Marinette was a very important friend... and Ladybug was the girl he was in love with. Regardless of being the...same person she still acts differently and... Adrien wondered how someone can feel love and friendship for a person at the same time. Isn't it too much?

"What can we do to help?" Marinette asked, her hand clenched into a fist on her knee as she kneeled beside the pillow, staring desperately at Nooroo. Adrien finally tilted his head to look at her. She took in a sudden breath, flinching almost, as she flicked her eyes to look at him for a moment lasting less than a second. Adrien snapped his head back to look at Nooroo, feeling guilty.

"Nooroo's condition is a bit of...an anomaly. I must admit, I do not know how to restore them." Master Fu said his words in a defeated tone, one Adrien had never heard come from him before.

Plagg floated into the air and settled on the opposite side of the pillow than Tikki. "Don't worry kiddo. For now we can make them comfortable. After enough time, we might be able to trace whatever is doing this to them." Plagg announced. He started glowing a soft, candy green, while Tikki glowed a deep, dark ruby.

"If we're thinking about this...we do have a lead." Marinette spoke with a certain contradiction to her tone. It was cautionary and gentle on the surface, yet brittle and certain underneath. Adrien knew instantly what she meant.

He stood up slowly, taking a few steps from her and the others. The soft bamboo floor almost made him trip, but he caught himself just instead, steadying his balance.

"Gabriel Agreste. Nooroo's last...captor." Adrien meant to say the words quietly, but they came out loud and harsh. Nooroo squirmed with a sudden discomfort, startling everyone.

Then, Marinette was standing searching his face with sympathetic eyes. "We don't know that he's doing this. But he may be connected to it. You said something about Nooroo having other fits, maybe it's a pattern we can work out." Marinette suggested to Master Fu, who nodded at them.

He remained seated, his head bowed even as he spoke to them. "I am afraid I must ask you to investigate this without your miraculous. Gabriel Agreste is a start, but with Nooroo in such a condition...there's no telling what affect they might have on Paris. Especially considering what his power has done before." Master Fu still wasn't looking at them. "I must ask you to risk yourself. For that I apologize."

Maybe it's because habits die hard, but all the acrimony washed away as Adrien locked eyes with Marinette, a small smile tugging his lip momentarily. He walked over and kneeled next to Master Fu. "Please don't worry sir, we aren't afraid of anything-"

"So long as we're working together." Marinette added, a redder, but seemingly warmer blush on her cheeks. Adrien nodded, seeing the mask, and how well it fits her. Marinette bowed to Master Fu and then turned to walk out. "Stay strong Tikki, I believe in you."

"And me you, Marinette." Tikki responded, glowing a bit brighter.

"I'll bring some camembert later, don't wear yourself out, Plagg." Adrien called behind him as he trotted out of the room after Lady- Marinette.

"Back atcha' kiddo."

* * *

She hugged her arms tight to her chest, wondering if she was cold or just in shock. Adrien...Agreste...Adrien... my Chat...Adrien!?

Her hands covered her face, and her chest heaved to get enough oxygen to her brain. Her heart was beating too fast. Everything was going too fast! What was she going to do!? She'd told Chat everything! All of her fears all of her hopes! He...

"Marinette!?" Chat-Adrien-Chat is easier- exclaimed upon exiting the diner. He put his fingers around her wrists and lowered her hands from her face. People walked by in the busy lunch hour glancing over with minimal curiosity. The sun was half covered by thick clouds, and as Marinette really took in Chat's eyes, she thought the same of them.

"Adrien...?"

"Yeah?"

"Just...just checking!" Marinette sputtered out nervously, pulling her hands out of his, holding them to her chest like armor. "You- uh you're- you are Chat Noir?"

Chat tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. He knew her as well as she had wished Adrien would know her, and she knew...he would come to her balcony at nights to escape his own home. Her heart had broken a million times over every time Chat Noir, her partner, had told her about his father...

Maybe she knew him too...or did they only know each other as deep as their problems went?

 _He doesn't know how deep my problems go._

 _And he never should._

"And you're Ladybug."

 _He shouldn't know that ladybug, the person he relies on, has considered abandoning everything. Abandoning him._

 _Why!?_ Marinette almost smacked her forehead, wondering why in such an important moment, the poison in her brain was trying to infest him as well. Her cheeks were burning, thick layers of embarrassment, nervousness, and shame.

"So, we've known each other for years." Chat states, holding out a hand to her. She glanced at it, hesitated, yet took it in the end.

He started walking forward, guiding them down the street. "I thought I got over needing to know who you were back at the end of Sophomore year." Adrien confessed, sending her a sly smile. "Thinking it over, that was probably because you were always near me anyway."

"We...we've been talking a lot as Marinette and Chat Noir since the middle of Junior year, when you came to my balcony to comfort me after that baker Akuma tried to hurt my parents." Marinette recalled, smiling at the memory.

Adrien nodded, "I remember, as Ladybug, you were so scared. It was a real shock to the system, I might've gone to you to comfort myself as much as you!" He chuckled, his words full of humor, and Marinette couldn't help but join in.

"Even now?" She asked, admittedly coy. The mood wasn't stable enough to say there was a shift, but it changed as a bit of doubt flashed through her eyes. "Do I help you even a fraction of how much you help me?"

Adrien stopped in front of her, yet still held tight to her hand, and when she peeked around him, she saw him smiling. "All the time, Mari. All the time."

He turned to look at her, and like always his beauty was overwhelming. She took in a small breath, wide-eyed, heart palpitating. She didn't know what she was doing, but suddenly she slipped her hand out of his, and brought both up to his face before kissing him.

It was just a peck really, but the contact of his skin made hers shiver. She backed out quickly, holding the back of her palm to her lips and mildly freaking out. "I- I'm s-sorry I just! L-let's get going!" She stammered, her eyes avoiding him like the plague as she set off down the sidewalk again.

Awkward. It was awkward and clumsy and that's not how first kisses are supposed to go! _Stupid!_

 _Besides, had I really kissed him because he's Chat, or Adrien? Adrien, the boy I've had an on and off crush since sophomore year. Do I really like him that way, or have I always only been seeking a conversation or attention or validation?_

 _Is that what love is? But then...why does that feel wrong?_

Tikki appeared in her mind, someone who cared. Someone who loved her.

She stopped and turned back to look at him, frozen in the same spot. She'd just...ruined everything hadn't she? The clouds congested the sky, reminding her of how grim everything was, not limited to her undead crush and spazztastic love life. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Adrien! We still have work to do!" She called out to him, attracting the eyes of other pedestrians. They should be heading back to school by now...

Then, Adrien through his arms up in the air and gave a big whoop. Marinette's face grew even more crowded with red, she was sure she looked like she had the flu by now. He took off running toward her, grinning brightly. "Marinette!" He called loudly even as he was reaching her.

"I-I'm sorry!" She squealed, but her words were lost between them as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Let's go talk to my father. With you, I know we can fix this!" Marinette stared up at him and his cheerful tone. His face, eyes, words, everything about him was like the sun. The storm that churned above Paris should've backed away in fear, for the way his smile shone.

He glanced back at her, and she knew then, that at least this moment wasn't meant for restrictions. She let out an awkward, but excited whoop, mimicking his, and took off running. He laughed and so did she, both of them running, letting everything around them pass by, unnoticed.

* * *

"Yes Nino, I promise it's nothing serious. I think I had something bad for breakfast. Yeah I'm on my way home right now ... Nino! Tell Alya that I'm way too sick to be over at Marinette's right now! Talk about embarrassing." Adrien sent her a wink, and she held a hand over her mouth to cover up a giggle.

They'd stopped just in front of his house so they could call in sick, hoping the excuse would at least pass for today, and that they could fix whatever was going wrong before they had to pull another excuse. Marinette was apprehensive, though, and their task grew more daunting to her the more she thought about it.

Surely, Mr. Agreste hadn't done everything for shits and giggles. Whatever was the reason, she didn't think she had any right to try and barge into his personal life. She did, however, take slight comfort in knowing that she'd had a little give, being Ladybug and having a small right to know why.

Marinette always hated feeling entitled, but at the same time, she didn't want to be unsupportive to Adrien. All of this was so confusing. In the end, she decided to do what she always did, and follow her heart.

"Apparently, Nino says they might get out of school anyway because of that." Adrien comments, and Marinette immediately knows what he means. The storm clouds were only getting worse.

She took a deep breath, turning back to the gates of his house and imagining herself transformed, pulling herself into Ladybug. Hard determination straightened her spine and tightened her eyes. Yet, they softened automatically when she turned to Adrien and asked, "Are you ready?"

He laughed bitterly, causing Marinette to flinch, though she was relieved that he didn't notice. Adrien clenched his fist and stood there, glaring at his mansion and home. Marinette thought she felt a drop of rain catch her cheek, but she wouldn't have been surprised if it was a tear, as her eyes were burning as much as Adrien's, thinking of the pain he must've been going through.

"I am." Adrien's voice startled her, and more so did the unclenching of his fist, relaxing of his shoulders, and sense of calm on his face. "I'm scared as hell, but this is for Nooroo. Nooroo and Plagg, heh, and Tikki and.. you. And myself. My father owes me an explanation, and I him." Marinette felt a sense of Deja vu, maybe it was because she felt similarly as to that afternoon, where he held out his umbrella to her.

She felt surprise, because for the third time, he'd taken off his mask and revealed something amazing underneath. Maturity.

And beauty.

* * *

Nino was following Alya down the school's steps, hands stuffed in his pockets and bag slung hastily over his shoulder. "Al, I know you don't want me to walk you home, but is there anything wrong with wanting to spend more time with you?" Nino asked, trying to keep the blush down on his face.

"A storm isn't going to hurt me, Nino." Alya said simply over her shoulder.

"That's not- what if there are muggers out because people are in such a frenzy, or something?"

She whirled around on him and held her phone out threateningly. Nino held up his hands, but didn't defuse him hard expression. Students all around them were laughing and joking with each other, some frantically calling their parents, and others planning out what to do with their free afternoon. Nino and Alya had other suspicions, though.

Alya shifted her weight to one hip and place her free hand on it. "What I'm more concerned about is Marinette and Adrien. This isn't the first time something like this has happened and after that weird phone call? Nino I'm worried, and you're right, maybe the storm is hiking up my nerves, but why would Adrien ask you to delete that call, and Marinette ask me the same thing? Something just...doesn't sit right. And here you are, ready to rush home without even..." She trialed off, frustration tying her words together briskly.

"Without what Alya? Doubting our friends like this is ridiculous."

"Not ridiculous. Not with this town."

"Come on, Superheroes don't affect our friendships, or at least they shouldn't."

"You're abandoning me again...what happened to you agreeing with me about these fishy 'coincidences'?"

"It's not that Al, but we shouldn't let something we can't do anything about get under our skin so much."

"Don't you get it Nino? I don't care about Ladybug or Chat Noir. None of it matters." Alya held herself, pressing her arms into her waist and keeping back tears. " _My best friend is lying to me..._ " She whispers, and Nino immediately wanted to deny it, but with all of the excuses and blow-offs and doubts they'd shared over the years... "What if, what if it's because I've been akumatized before?" Alya suggested, devastated. "Maybe she thinks I'm untrustworthy because of it."

Their words sat heavily in between them, seemingly building into a wall. Still, Nino wouldn't let it happen. "I'm sorry Al, why don't we drop by Mari's and-" Nino broke off his words as a strike of lightning danced on the outskirts of the city, and a roll of thunder shook the ground. Alya grabbed Nino's arm as the lightning struck again.

It was like a light show that encased the city in momentary brightness. Nino could only see so much from the street level, but it was as if the sky was all around them, arching down into Paris. People were screaming around them, and Nino was sure he let out a mighty yelp himself.

It was like a dome, intense heat coming down in flashes less than a second, but it seemed like it'd never stopped. Just as Nino was beginning to think the lightning strikes looked remarkably like bars of a cage, it stopped. The air was alive, the sky was furious, but Nino couldn't stare for much longer. Alya yanked him down to the ground and threw herself over him. The lightning started again, but this time it was all around them.

For a whole minute, all Nino could do was hold onto to her, hoping that his arms would be enough to keep her safe. That his fear, his instincts, something would do something!

Then it stopped again, and Alya slowly stood up, offering Nino a hand. "What's going on? Akuma attacks shouldn't be happening, they defeated the bad guy!" Alya exclaimed, confusion and frustration hitting her eyes almost as hard the lighting.

"Something's different..." Nino murmured, and just as Alya snorted sarcastically, the lighting begun again, closer into the city once again. Someone from behind them, a teacher maybe, was shouting for all the kids still there to come back inside. Nino shared a look with Alya.

She won their silent argument.

Nino turned and surveyed the area around them, a brick dropping in his stomach upon seeing kids lying on the ground. Horror. Fear. Is that what he felt, as his vision tunneled onto the figure of Kim, next to a car, lying there?

How did he not notice it?! Nino started running towards him, but before he even reached him, Kim was standing up. Nino got to him and offered him an arm, feeling numb and relieved, and a little sore. "Hey dude, are you alright?" Nino asked and Kim nodded.

"Yeah but...what just happened?" Kim asked sluggishly. Nino shrugged, looking around to see all the others who'd fallen stand back up.

Maybe it is an Akuma...Nino is sure that, because of Ladybug and Chat Noir, there's never been an Akuma casualty. Still, he knew personally that some Akuma-victims were more violent than others.

"Alya!" Nino called out her name, as she was busy helping Chloe up from where she'd fallen. They met in the middle of their distance. "I want to go find Adrien, he said he was on his way home and... if he's sick then.." Nino trailed off apprehensively, but Alya instantly got a protective glean in her eyes.

After all, Adrien was her friend too. "You're right, but doesn't he normally drive home?" Alya squinted as a final bout of lightning died down, and the tension eased up slightly. Nino watched as Alya looked around, and realization dawned on her face.

It had taken Nino a moment too. The only thing that had been struck was the cars, and now, as people tried to start them again, none of them were turning on. "It might be even worse if he was driving." Nino moaned pulling out his phone. "No service, this is bogus."

Alya checked hers too and sighed, watching as everyone around them began to mill back into the school. Teachers were ushering them back inside, and Nino and Alya's strode straight toward them. "Hey babe, make a break for it?" Alya suggested, and Nino let out a 'Psh.'

"These may look like tennis shoes," Nino gestured to his new kicks, trying to be light-hearted, "but they were not meant for the abuse of runni-" Alya snagged his hand and took off before he could finish, putting a grin on his face. The grin turned nervous as they bolted through the streets filled with commuters and policeman.

Alya was going to get him killed, or arrested. Adrien should be worried about him instead.

* * *

 **A/N: I got...a really nice review...thank you very much. Enjoy!**


	4. A Much Sadder Tour

**A/N: I'm taking artistic liberty with the setting. Normally I would try to be good about this stuff but there's really not a good view of the Agreste mansion as a whole so I'm going to fill a bit in. More than a bit...maybe. #Theirdoorswillhavedoorhandlesidontcareifitscannonornot**

 **Also, since new episodes are coming out and all it'll change things. If it's something simple like names, since I don't know Adrien's mom's name, I'll change it. Just know that I planned everything when it was only Season One that had come out. This story is not really supposed to be about that anyway...**

 **Thanks for understanding! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

He usually felt terrified right around now. Actually, it'd be right around this time next week that he'd feel that scared, because for the week preceding him finding the guts to talk to his father, he would walk around in a numb state of nervousness and fear. Once he managed to convince himself to talk to him, all of the nerves would conspire together and manifest into terror.

Adrien couldn't talk to his father, not the way his friends could talk to their parents. Not the way he could talk to his mom.

Why? Why did it somehow feel to Adrien that he was defined by this? By the way his father viewed him...

He was a horrible child. He could lie to his father easily, it didn't seem morally wrong to him. He snuck out at night, putting himself in danger without even warning him. Taking away the fact that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth, Adrien still felt he was a bad son. He even had plans to completely leave his father behind when he grew up, hell, he _daydreamed_ about it. Adrien always thought he should be the one to change, that if he was better, everything would fall into place.

Everything could fall into place. His father had been hurting for so long, and Adrien didn't even consider it. "Ladybug- Marinette, I want to be kind to my father." Adrien nodded to himself as they walked into the mansion. "Starting now, if I consider his pain more than I can connect with him again!" He smiled at Marinette, albeit nervously, but she looked at him with apprehension.

"What do you mean, starting now?" She asks hesitantly, her hands behind her back as they started searching the house. Searching through rooms Adrien knew were there on the first floor, and searching for any signs of a hidden room. With a skeptical expression, Marinette picked up an ancient Egyptian styled vase, which Adrien could admit was out of place in the black and white design, before setting it down and moving on.

Adrien tilted his head, thinking on her question. "Well," Oh. He had forgotten. Although Adrien had never told Marinette his deepest thoughts, Chat Noir had 'deep-dished' to her before. "You know, this all must be because no one, not even me, his own son, has reached out to him. If I can be more supportive and consider his pain, then everything will be alright. That's the moral of this story, right?" Adrien could almost feel the need to be confirmed in his chest.

Marinette looked up at him, unsure, and he swallowed hard. Was it too late? Did she know how this worked? Is it impossible for Adrien to fix this!? His eye grew wider and he realize that his breathing had grown shaky. "Adrien." Marinette lifted her lips in a smile, placing her hand on Adrien's elbow.

"If your father doesn't realize how much you love him, and how much you do for him, then he doesn't deserve you. Adrien, you are so much more than what he thinks." Her words were soft, soothing, but they hit Adrien like a hammer.

He looked at her face, was she right? "You don't understand." Adrien murmured, and expected Marinette's arm to drop. Why did he want to push her away? So she wouldn't see how weak he is, so he wouldn't ruin the image of him he tried to keep perfect.

"Then help me-"

Marinette's voice was cut off by flash of light through the windows, followed by thunderous shaking. Adrien held fast to Marinette's arm and drew her close to his chest suddenly. He search the room rapidly for a person, a silhouette of his father, but he could find none.

"A-A-Adrien..." Marinette lightly pushed on his chest 'till he let her go. "What was that?" Her face regained the scarlet blush, and Adrien smacked his forehead.

"Sorry...I forgot you're Ladybug, my instincts sort of took over...protect the civilian, etc." Adrien apologized, but he didn't have time to decipher Marinette's shocked face as another burst of lightning and thunder wracked them. "Come on, we have to hurry...this could be Hawkmoth's doing." Adrien spoke and then held out his hand, "Plagg, Claws-"

More lightning. Adrien supposed he should count himself lucky, for it prohibited the teasing look of Marinette's face from developing further. "No powers this time." Marinette stated nervously.

"Hopefully we won't miss them." Adrien commented, glancing over his shoulder shrewdly at the lightning. That was heavy duty, he wondered if Nino and Alya made it home safely. He nodded forward, and he and Marinette returned the entrance.

The started up the stairs, but Marinette stopped and turned around. "You know, that design reminds me of the kwami box." She mused, pointing to the black design on the white marble floor. "Subtly, you know." She shrugged and headed back up the stairs, but Adrien's eyes lingered.

His father _did_ have a miraculous...

When he followed Marinette back up the stairs, he found her gazing up at the portrait of him and his father. Adrien's eyes looked dead, and his father looked like he didn't care. "I wish he would've kept the one with my mother and us up there, but he said it would make it harder to move on..." Adrien sighed, and Marinette put a hand on his shoulder. He gave her a smile, understanding that without her here, it would be a much sadder tour.

"Adrien!? Thank goodness you're safe." Natalie's voice alerted them, but as the woman rushes down the stairs, she stopped to cower at the latest bout of lightning. "You haven't been walking in that, have you?"

Adrien took several strides to meet her. His father's secretary was obviously stressed, and as Adrien took her hand she squeezed it and sighed. "Yes, but we got in before the lightning started." Adrien confirms, and Natalie drops Adrien's hand.

"Good. Now, you two should find someplace in here to stay put so I know where you are." Natalie tried to straighten herself, but Adrien could see that something was unnatural, more so than normal. Natalie, along with the rest of the city, was pretty well used to strange things happening due to akuma attacks.

Adrien narrowed his eyes, trying to catch Natalie's but she was strictly avoiding it. "We need to find my father." He stated. She immediately shook her head. Adrien didn't want to wait for her warning, surely it was something to do with the miraculous. He moved past her, beginning up the stairs. yet Marinette wasn't following.

"What's wrong?" She asks hesitantly, making eye contact with Adrien over Natalie's shoulder.

The secretary sighed. "He's locked himself in his atelier. I haven't...been able to reach him. Adrien, I don't want you to have to be the one to go in there." Her words sounded so defeated, with a slump in her shoulders, a downcast set of eyes, strays hairs in her bun.

He descended the stairs again. Adrien couldn't be mad at Natalie. She was never prepared to handle a teen like him, but he knew that she always did as much as her nature allowed to help him. He wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on her shoulder. "Thank you for everything Natalie. Take a break." He pulled back and smiled at her, before reaching a hand out to Marinette.

She took it with a smile, nodding to Natalie, and then running up the stairs beside Adrien. "I didn't know you and her were close?" She asked, and Adrien shrugged.

"She tries. It's more than I could ever say for father." Adrien said naturally, before remembering his pledge. "At least, it showed she tried. I mean it showed how father tried sometimes aswell, like that scarf he got me once and that time he-"

"Adrien it's okay, I understand." Marinette soothed kindly as they walked up to the door to the atelier. Adrien hadn't noticed his words getting slurred and nervously strung together. He squeezes Marinette's hand again, drawing strength from her calm eyes.

Ladybug.

He needed that strength now, and Adrien was glad that it was Marinette by his side for this. He'd told her so much of this as Chat Noir, actually told Marinette, that it seemed like a dream she was here.

He took soft steps toward the atelier doors. They were black, with half circles in the middle and lines splitting from them as if rays of the sun. Only an allusion, Adrien knew. There was no longer any sun in this house. He reached out and tugged on the door.

* * *

"Locked." Adrien's voice was marked with disbelief and incredulousness. He smacked his hand to his forehead. "Marinette she just told me it was locked, twenty seconds ago. How did I forget they're locked?" He murmured, and Marinette shook her head. Oh Chat- er...Adrien now. She put her hand to her mouth, resisting the urge to laugh. It was kinda obvious to see how similar Adrien and Chat are.

Adrien _was_ Chat Noir.

She was still having an issue getting over that.

Still, she kneeled next to the door and peered at the handle. "There's a simple lock on here...I don't suppose you have a spare key?" She asked hopefully, but Adrien, who had put his face in his hands, shook his head.

Marinette raised an eyebrow and grinned slightly as Adrien half chuckled, half wept into his palms. Then she turned back to the door and put her hand on her chin, thinking.

Ever since they entered the mansion, Marinette had mentally been Ladybug. Sure, every time Adrien looked at her with trust and loyalty and questions and everything in his eyes she felt like melting.

But the crisp marble walls, the edges of the house only served to remind her that they had a job to finish here. She hated it, but she had grown lately. Adrien needed to reconcile with his father, but Ladybug needed to interrogate Hawkmoth, to help Nooroo. For that reason she would take responsibility, so Adrien didn't have to.

Everything that Adrien told her, it kept threatening to close in on her. "That's right!" Marinette hit her palm with her fist in triumph. "You have an electronic security system right? What if we just...turn the power off?"

Adrien looked up and blinked. "Yeah, there's a power...uh, fuse box? There's a fuse box in a closet somewhere I think." Adrien pointed across the room to the hallway, and Marinette bounced to her feet.

"Okay, good." She turned taking the half-room in with a wide sweep. Adrien seemed a little daze, which was to be expected, she supposed, from all the stress he was under. Thinking back, she wondered if anything she had said to him actually helped...

 _Of course not. Why would anything you say mean anything to him?_

'Because I care.' She bit back to herself, looking over the room again.

 _But does he?_

"Uh...Marinette?" Adrien's voice made her jump from her thoughts. "What are you looking for?" His voice is curious, but there's still something else inside of it. Like his feelings of hopelessness are casting shade over him. Marinette looked back at him with a confident grin, determined to let him know she was strong enough for him to lean on her.

This time she looked around the room, and actually looked, until she spotted a metal statuette of a horse set on a table. She snagged it and walked over to Adrien. "I'll go look for the fuse box, you stay here and try to break something to get it open." She held out the statuette and he just widened his eyes and stared at it.

"You want me to break the door?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't wanted to smash something expensive before?" Marinette quipped. Hawkmoth was on the other side of that doing who knows what. They both needed to act, and act fast, before things went beyond repair.

As Adrien took the statuette hesitantly, Marinette realized that she felt like Ladybug. She wouldn't be surprised if she saw the red and black in a mirror as she walked by. "Chat, don't tell me you need Plagg to take on a locked door."

Adrien snapped his eyes up at her at the nickname, and slowly, he looked back down at the statuette.

"That cat miraculous _is_ best at destruction." He murmured dejectedly. Marinette narrowed her eyes slightly.

She wasn't sure how to respond. "Right...I'll...go look then." She said and turned to trot out into the hallway.

She peered out one of the large windows. "At least the lightning stopped." Marinette muttered and began her search along the hallway doors. She peeked into one closet, looking around in it but finding only towels and other bathroom supplies.

The next one had blankets and pillows, but also a small white box on the right side of the wall. Marinette wiggled into the closet and opened the box's lid. IT was filled with flips and buttons and dials , and Marinette tilted her head to the side. "This doesn't look like our fusebox but...if I'm just trying to break it...?" She cringed defensively and flipped a random switch up.

The closet's lightbulb flickered to life. "Oh...that was anticlimactic." She huffed and switched a few more of them on, smashing a few buttons with her fingers in an attempt to see what everything did.

" _3...2..._ "

"What?"

" _1_ " The numbers sounded lightly from somewhere past the blankets. Marinette only had a second to react before the floor started moving beneath her and the closet rotated with her inside.

"Chat Noir!" She called out in a moment of panic before the hallway turned out of her sight. She dropped so suddenly as the closet began moving down, falling to her knees as her balance was stolen by the movement. "Oh geeze, okay, okay. I'm in a villain's lair-home- I mean, I'm probably heading towards his lair now but-"

The closet suddenly halted, and a metal door slid open to reveal a dark, barely illuminated room. The closet light shone for a few feet in, and lit the room enough for Marinette to make out a a few tables and...columns?

"What is this?" She spoke to herself, slipping up to her feet and keeping one hand on edge of the closet while she entered the room. "Alya, I wish you were here right now." The words came out unexpectedly, but not untrue. Alya would be all over this...Alya w _as_ all over this stuff, all the time actually. Part of Marinette had always thought Alya would have the time of her life investigating the things that Marinette worked through on a weekly basis. Then again, Akuma victims were never exactly subtle...

Finding Hawkmoth, though, and digging through the sparse history of the miraculous that Master Fu had, that was sleuth-y.

Marinette shook her head as she realized again that she was daydreaming.

She stepped further into the room, curiosity getting the best of her, and looked closely at each thing as she walked by. The room was tinted in electric blue, especially as a few lights began to pop on as she walked.

Marinette passed a table with books and documents strewn across it, a display case with a staff, old and rusted, and a bulletin board. A gasp escaped her lips as she followed the bright red string with her eyes, crisscrossing itself as it connected files to pictures to maps to sticky notes. Her fingers reached out to brush a picture of herself next to a picture of her mom.

A few other girls from her school, and other schools, were also connected by the red string to the same thing. A sticky note with the word 'Ladybug' on it.

Her stomach churned, and a creeping coldness filled her core, making goosebumps rise on her arms. She turned and walked by a few more things of the same sort. A whole table was dedicated to Egyptian-looking pictures of artifacts and hieroglyphics. Another table had things from an island culture, while another had stuff from China. What did all of it had in common? From Marinette could tell, dust. Everything was covered in dust.

"This is some major research." Marinette murmured, scratching her neck tensely. She finally came upon a table filled, rather sparingly compared to the others, with things from Paris.

Two masks lay on the desk, along with bigger pictures matching the ones on the board. Marinette shifted through until she got to her portrait, and placed the ladybug mask on top of it. She sighed, lifting the mask in her hands and inspecting it. "Of course it's made well, he's a fashion designer."

Holding onto the mask, she found also a picture of Adrien. This time when she put the black mask on his face, she really looked at it.

"Huh." The big difference, that she could tell, was that in the picture Adrien wasn't smiling. That didn't go with Chat Noir at all.

Also the whole eye thing- but that's just an aside. Marinette stuffed the two masks into her bag and strode over to the last corner of the room. It hosted two shelves, filled to the brim with, surprisingly, plants. The green leaves and bright colored flowers seemed out of place in such a room, but as Marinette looked over them, they all seemed healthy.

Something shifted behind her, and Marinette immediately swiveled on her heels and held up her fists. A figure stood at the back of the room, arms crossed and back straight. The light of the closet was gone, the door having been shut, oblivious to Marinette. She squinted to try and figure who it is. But just then, a small voice sounded just behind her ear.

 **"You shouldn't leave your friends behind, Mari."**

A force pushed on her back, and a feeling like fire spread out across her back. She clenched her jaw and shot her hand out, smacking it on a desk as she teetered on the edge of her balance.

She fell to her knees at the same moment the person across the room started running towards her.

* * *

Adrien brought the horse down on the door handle again, the metal on metal snapping out a clang like it did before. He'd hit it a good twenty times, until he brought it down exactly as heard a muffled cry from somewhere behind him.

Alarmed, he turned and dropped the horse, beginning to stride toward the noise. Did something happen? Was Marinette okay-

There was a click behind him, and the cool swish of an opening door sent sudden shivers down his arms. "Adrien?" His father's voice sounded dull and emotionless, spare for the fact it was there at all. Adrien whipped around and widened his eyes.

His father was without his typical suit coat, instead with his tie half pulled off and the sleeves of his shirt sloppily rolled up. His hair was messy and flat, and there was a large purple stain on his right leg's white dress pants. Adrien could smell it, wine.

He put a hand over his stomach, unable to hide his shock and distress at seeing his father like this. Adrien's heartrate was skyrocketing. He'd only ever caught a glimpse of something like this before, and even then he wasn't sure if it had been real.

A few nights after his mother had...gone, he woke up in the middle of the night and began walking around the mansion, imagining that he'd run into her humming through the halls or climbing in from the windows. Adrien had seen it a few times. His mom would twirl and hum in the halls at night, since she would sometimes have trouble sleeping. Additionally, Adrien had seen her come in through the windows early in the mornings or very late at night, back when it was a challenge for him to wait up that long. She would scold him, but in the end it was just something silly to Adrien. They'd enjoy a midnight snack and she would tell him stories, and he wouldn't think anymore of it.

Adrien was expecting her to come in like that, so he waited up like that for a week after she was gone. But the last night he did, the thing that made him stop, was seeing his father through a crack in his door.

"Father... I must speak with you." Adrien choked out the words as normally as he could. Gabriel Agreste looked down his nose at him, before letting out a long sigh.

"Adrien." His father muttered again. "Why are you leaving?" Adrien frowned, stepping toward his father with his hands spread out nonthreateningly.

"Father, what's-" Adrien broke off as his father slipped to his knees, covering his face with his hands.

All of Adrien's fears slipped into numbness. He felt paralyzed, watching his father break down in front of him. He'd never seen him this way before, even when he and Ladybug defeated him, he'd remained composed and reticent. "Why are you leaving, Abigail? Please don't leave too.." His father continued, curling into himself on his knees.

Adrien didn't know what to do. As he stared at his father, the pain in his chest grew. He did the only thing he could think of.

He walked over to his father and knelt beside him, slowly wrapping his arms around him in an unsure hug. His father froze, but even though Adrien was apprehensive of his actions, he wasn't willing to leave his father alone again. "It's okay, it's going to be okay."

Did he want to have to comfort his father? Wasn't it Adrien who deserved to be hugged and held and told it'll be okay? Maybe. Adrien didn't believe that the world was fair, he knew it was harsh and cruel and sometimes it felt like giving up on it. Still, Adrien believed. He believed that for all the unfairness, people could make up for it.

Adrien set his head on his father's should, squishing his cheek into his face and squeezing his hug again. Part of him was screaming to walk away, to let this man feel as alone as he had. But that just...wasn't who Adrien was.

A subtle movement caught Adrien's eye. A flash of dark purple on his father's back, slowly expanding from a small dot to pool as large as Adrien's hand. "What the-" Adrien exclaimed and tried to wipe it off, but the outside of the growing, purple substance was hard and glossy like a candy shell.

Then, the arm that remained around his father was caught in a hard, unforgiving grip. "Adrien...run." Adrien looked up at his father as the man stood up, gripping Adrien's elbow, and spoke to Adrien in a moment of seeming clarity. He stared in horror at his father's newly purple-tinted eyes.

The last thing Adrien saw before being thrown across the room was the substance flowing from his father's back like butterfly wings.


	5. Letting the Question Hang in the Air

**A/N: I know, another one so soon. I have three papers to write but I did this instead...I'm going to burn. Anyway I just thought the last one was kinda a weird in between chapter. We're still not really at...idk the point of the story yet? This is the last chapter for set-up/exposition. I dunno how to emphasize that without being snooty but uh, enjoy! Thanks for the favorites and the reviews, I appreciate them a lot!**

* * *

Shortly after Adrien and Marinette left, the room hosting the four kwami's and Master Fu seemed to be growing grimmer and grimmer. The air of hope that the kids carried with them, through their youth and optimism, dissipated with their sighs. Nooroo, although his moans had calmed, only seemed to be getting worse and worse. Plagg and Tikki were doing the best they could to share their magic with him, to Master Fu's knowledge that was what they were doing, but he could see that even they were beginning to look fatigued.

"Just a little longer," Wayzz encouraged his fellow Kwami's, having joined in to help them with his own aura of magic. "Marinette and Adrien will be able to fix this."

Master Fu looked up from his own journal of notes, which kept records of what's happened to Kwami's and miraculous holders, to see the other Kwami's response. He knew that what he had told the two had been... a sort of lie. The three Kwamis knew exactly what was happening, but they had neglected to share with any of their miraculous holders. Master Fu, however, had been with Wayzz for a very long time, and their bond was strong and hearty. He could tell when his Kwami was keeping something hidden.

Tikki glanced over to Wayzz and nodded her delicate head. "If they can convince Gabriel Agreste to put aside his anger, maybe Nooroo will get better."

A small but harsh laugh lowered the temperature of them room. "What, like he did last time? I don't even know why I'm doing this...we all know how this ends." Plagg retorted in fake apathy.

"Plagg!" Tikki's red glow brightened as she cried out, "Marinette and Adrien are trusting us right now, they don't know anything that's going on yet they don't even question whether or not to help us. The least we can do is put some trust in them too." She declared, albeit with difficulty as her glow faded once again.

All three Kwami's appeared exhausted, the magic around them growing dimmer and dimmer.

"I know, I know! Agh, you think I don't trust that little brat by now?" Plagg hissed out. "But... there are storms outside, can't you hear?"

"You summoned the storm, already!? Plagg!" Tikki gasped and glared at the Kwami across from her.

"The storm?" Master Fu interjected, rising from him desk and shuffling towards them. The Kwamis gazed at him like they forgot he was there.

All three of them, even Plagg, looked suddenly guilty. "I didn't call it on purpose this time." Plagg insisted, eliciting confusion from Tikki and steady doubt from Wayzz. "I swear! I think it's just a side effect from using too much power on Nooroo. But it shows we're wasting our time."

"That's true." Wayzz nodded, rubbing his little arms together before holding them out again. "Our magic is only feeding the darkness in Nooroo, once it has all of ours, it will consume Nooroo. We are only delaying the inevitable and potentially making things worse in the meantime." Tikki sighed, staring at Nooroo dejectedly as if she already knew what Wayzz said.

Master Fu waited patiently, and at last Wayzz looked up at him. "I'll tell you the story of what happened. Do you know the story of Atlantis?" Wayzz asked, and Master Fu nodded. "Well, think of it like that.

"You see, Miraculous are not meant to be used for evil. However, there are always people who desire the Miraculous for evil intentions. If a Miraculous holder does use it for evil, it can infect the Kwami and...it can begin to change them, even unwillingly. The same can be said if a... well.." Wayzz was never good with emotions, and he glanced at Plagg awkwardly. "It can work the other way around too.

"Anyway, Nooroo is always a target for those with evil intentions, because they have the power to create an army. If Tikki is here, with a Ladybug, that army can be cured. Almost every time Nooroo's Miraculous has been used for evil, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and the other Miraculous holders have been able to rescue them. Except for one time."

Nooroo whimpered, as if they were following the story despite being unconscious. Wayzz took a deep breath before continuing. "Metamorphosis, that's what it's called when a Kwami is corrupted, or changed. Nooroo was Metamorphosed, and even though their master backed out, it was too late. It went the other way, Nooroo used his Miraculous holder to spread control over the entire town. It was different and...dark than when the Miraculous holder used the power."

Tikki took a shuddery breath and looked up at Master Fu. "Everyone in the city was caught by it, sucked into themselves and their faults. Nooroo normally emphasizes what is most special to a person to give them powers, but it was the opposite while he was metamorphosed." She shook her head and looked at Nooroo again. "Everyone but the Miraculous holders can be infected. When we are connected to them through the Miraculous, we can protect them."

Master Fu hummed apprehensively. "And how does this story end?" He asked gently.

Plagg took up the story this time, despite the distress that showed in his narrowed eyes. "When a Ladybug is finished, they can fix all the damage by rebuilding. But this Ladybug...he had been hurt. Chat Noir had to choose between using both Ladybug and Cat Miraculous himself or...using Chat Noir's final power. He would've taken his earrings but, without them Ladybug would've been infected by Nooroo along with the rest of the city. He...loved him too much for that, and in the end he destroyed the city to stop the infection from spreading to the rest of the world. It stormed for only a few hours, but it was apocalyptic. After it passed...he never forgave himself."

They all remained silent, and Master Fu bowed his head. Wayzz finished after Plagg remained silent. "With no one around for miles, Nooroo had no one else to infect. The Miraculous holders, caught him and, even though it took a very long time, he recovered and Metamorphosed back."

"And Nooroo's Miraculous holder?" Master Fu asked, but Wayzz just shook his head.

Master Fu took a moment to let the silence settle out of respect, before rising to his feet with a groan. He shuffled back to his journal, and shakily began to scribble quick notes of the story.

As he wrote, he wiped the droplets of his tears off the page before they soaked in and smudged the ink.

Once a few minutes had passed, he stood up again and announced, "I'll retrieve some snacks, so you may keep your energy up." The Kwamis were most definitely in need of a boost in energy. However, as he prepared what he knew were their favorites in his small kitchen, a crash sounded from the room. A flash of light tore at Master Fu's eyes, and he winced and shut them, "No!" he shouted in protest. As the light dimmed, he collected himself.

He hurried back as quick as he could, but stopped cold in the doorway. The Kwamis laid littered across the room, all but Nooroo. Master Fu saw a flash of him disappear out the window, but his normally lavender appearance seemed...darker in the split second.

"Wayzz! Are all of you alright?" He demanded, first picking up his Kwami before shuffling over to help the other two.

"It happened so fast... Everything's falling apart!" Tikki murmured, and Master Fu carried the three of them to the kitchen in haste.

"No." He said determined, despite the worry he felt. "The same will not happen to this city as before. Quickly, regain your energy. You must find your partners!" Master Fu proclaimed.

Though the Kwamis, shaken and weak, didn't have as much faith as he did, they ate quickly.

* * *

"Marinette!" The voice pulled her out of her daze, and two hands shook her shoulders to rouse her. Marinette opened her eyes to see Nino kneeling in front of her, wide and worried eyes gracing his normally calm features. "Heeyy, are you alright?" He asked, drawing out the syllables nervously.

She gave her head a shake to clear it, before reaching her hand around her to search her back for the source of the pain. She could only feel a small bump the size of her thumbnail, but even then she didn't have long to think about it. "Nino get down!" She yelled and tackled him to the ground as a floating, dark creature circled them. Hey yelped as she did, flailing a bit until he saw what she did. "What are you- Ah!" She exclaimed suddenly as she recognized the creature. "N-Nooroo!?" Was Nooroo the one who just spoke to her?

They looked down at Marinette coolly, before muttering something she could barely hear. "Same as before..." Their voice was dull and unenthusiastic, and their shade of purple was...well it was so dark it was hardly purple anymore. "Maybe the other one?"

Oh heck to the no. Marinette might not know what's going on, but she was already on the defensive. "You won't touch him!" She shouted, holding her arms out in front of Nino. He was still on the ground, shocked, while she was on one knee in front of him.

Nooroo barely glance over her. It reminded her so much of Gabriel Agreste that she shivered at the comparison. "Nooroo what's wrong? Let me help you." She insisted, but the little creature only narrowed their cloudy eyes. Then they shot up and phased through the ceiling. She could relax only for a second, before remembering.

"Chat Noir!" She gasped, a steady panic taking over her. This is terrible, she thought. Too much is going on and she left him so long ago and what did Nooroo mean and and and-

 _I can't do anything right and everything is going wrong._

 _This is all going to be my fault I shouldn't have left Adrien behind I shouldn't be Ladybug I can't do this right-_

Nino grabbed her shoulders just as her breathing started to grow too heavy. "Marinette! Calm down..." She stared at him, wide-eyed. "If Chat Noir's here, then Ladybug isn't far behind. This is just like any other Akuma attack, it'll be okay..." He soothed and she made an effort to slow her breathing.

That's right. They were capable super heroes that had taken on everything that had been thrown at them. Throughout the years, there was nothing that could stop Ladybug and Chat Noir. She would just have to relax and wa-

' _I AM LADYBUG_ ' She screamed at herself internally and jumped to her feet.

"Nino we gotta move! Uh- grab something, anything in here- that looks useful! OhmygodisAlyaheretoo!? AH!" Marinette was freaking out, sure, and Nino was probably even more confused than he already was. She didn't have any time to explain, though, and leaving him down here was probably a terrible idea...

"Like this?" Nino asked, baffled and holding up a random object seemingly just to appease Marinette as she narrowly avoided hyperventilating. "What's going-"

"Let's go!" She snatched his wrist and pulled him to the weird closet elevator. Marinette nearly punched the keypad to get it to open and stared at the control panel in confusion once they were inside. "Nino do you remember how you...?"

He shook his head. "I just pressed random things. Alya and I heard you scream as soon as we came in, but she must've run off before hand." Nino explained briefly while Marinette followed suit on the random pressing. She and Nino had always had a certain knack for technology.

The numbers came on again, and the floor began to lift and spin to her relief. "I wish Tikki were here..." She muttered under her breath, but then remembered the Ladybug and Chat Noir mask she'd stuffed in her bag.

" _No powers this time._ " She repeated to herself. Nino gave her a quizzical look, and she nervously waved it off. "Just something I read down there." The door opened. "Pretty weird stuff right?" Nino nodded, examining the object that he apparently held onto. She was desperately trying to push her emotions down. "Where did you say Alya went?" Marinette asked, but didn't wait for him to answer before she set off down the hallway.

"Nooroo! Get back here!" Adrien sprinted out of the door she was looking for, chasing down the Kwami with his arms outstretched. "Agh! Oi!" He ran into the banister, almost tipping over it.

Marinette saw Nino cast down the staff/net/weird thing as she dashed over to Adrien and, with Nino's help, pulled him back over. "Marinette! -Wait NINO!?" Adrien exclaimed and went back and forth from looking at Marinette to Nino frantically. Marinette just let out a huge breath, relief at his safety overcoming her. There was just one person left... "What's going on-" Adrien broke off as Alya voice reached them from below.

"There you guys are! What the %$* is going on!?" She practically screeched up at them. Marinette grinned down at her best friend, she's safe too.

Nino gave her a thumbs up and took off down the stairs, the two of them meeting in the middle. Marinette took the opportunity. "Chat, we have to hurry. I think something's gone wrong, Nooroo shouldn't be here." She said to Adrien frantically, and he nodded.

She dug out the masks from her bag as she explained what she'd found in the basement. Marinette could only guess that things had gone poorly with reaching his father, because when she mentioned what he'd ben investigating down there, his expression grew dark. "What about..?" She trailed off, letting the question hang in the air.

Adrien glared at the Chat Noir mask as he took it. "I don't...I don't know what's wrong with him Mari. He just...He _turned into something_. Something that isn't Hawkmoth. I managed to lock him in the Atelier after a bit of a struggle. I don't think it'll be enough to keep him in though."

Marinette nodding, taking his hand in hers. "What do we do, Mari? Nooroo's flying around here doing who knows what and we're...we're still powerless." He murmured, confliction in his eyes.

With a confidence she only half felt, Marinette raised her right hand that was holding his. "We don't need powers. At least, we can last until Tikki and Plagg get here." She recalled the first day on the job, declaring her purpose to Hawkmoth atop the Eiffel Tower. "First, we get Nino and Alya out of here, somewhere safe. Then we catch Nooroo, lure him with something or another. If we have to we'll bring him back to Master Fu." She planned out, and Adrien gripped her hand in response.

He took a moment to think through what she said, and Marinette watched as his face grew almost cheeky. "Right, my lady." He brought her hand to his lips. "I'd trust your plans with anything." He grinned down at her after kissing her fingers. "Thank you for being here."

She looked up at him and laughed nervously, glancing every which way and stuttering a confirmation and a 'you too.' "Let'ss get star-started then!" She smiled and put the Ladybug mask over her eyes. She looked at Adrien through it, and he did the same with the black mask. Just imagining everything that Chat had done was Adrien, she was sure her face was the same shade as the mask.

"That's what you've been hiding?!" Alya balked, and Marinette jumped so much she nearly punched Adrien in the face. "You two are totally dating aren't you? Is that what you've been hiding?" Adrien rubbed his jaw, chuckling, and Marinette peeked at Alya through the mask.

"U-um...No?" She said nervously. All of sudden, Marinette smacked her forehead and mentally scolded herself for being distracted again. "You two have to go, it's going to get dangerous around here." She stated all importantly- forgetting that she was still Marinette and not Ladybug.

 _Besides, it's not like he'd actually ever like me...I mean sure he flirted with me as Ladybug but that was...different..._

 _I'm not good enough for him._

 _I'm too weird and too clumsy and I make ugly faces all the time and can't stand the thought of him knowing just how much I hate myself._

 _He's rejected Marinette before, what's different now?_

A spot on her back throbbed, and Marinette reached a hand behind her to feel the bump from before. Just what was that? "Totally. And my father is going crazy over it. He's going to be out to talk to us in a moment and if you guys are here then it'll be even worse." Adrien explained casually, like it made total sense. Marinette gaped at him, while Nino and Alya had similar reactions.

"Woah dudes hold up. How do you explain all the weird stuff? And the elevator closet? And the Ladybug mask?" Nino pointed out. "And the flying thing that's probably still in this room, watching us?" He said all this casually, but a string of nervousness was revealed by his uneasy expression.

"That's right? Isn't Chat Noir supposed to be here somewhere?" Alay stretches herself to look around dramatically. "Don't try to fool me, there's something Akuma going down, isn't there? Why else would Chat Noir be here?"

Marinette looked at Adrien nervously, half shrugging her shoulders, before the house shook slightly from a crash further in. "There's Pere. I'll explain everything later Al but you seriously have to go!" Marinette insisted, yet just as she was about to shoo them down the stairs, or at least to an empty room, Alya doubled over.

Nino yelped and caught her as she slid to the floor, groaning in pain. Marinette gasped and dropped to her knees in front of her, putting her hands on Alya's shoulders. "Marinette look!" Adrien called from behind her, and she looked up to see Nooroo floating in the air, directly behind where Alya just stood. She stood up and slipped around Alya in one slick motion, flailing her hands out to try and grasp Nooroo. They shot to the ceiling, but this time, Marinette stretched the mask like it was a rubber band and aimed it at Nooroo, firing and hitting him before he phased through.

"Nice!" She muttered as they fell right into her waiting hands. She kept two thumbs pressed gently over them to keep them still. "Nooroo, what's going on? Why are you trying to hurt people?"

The cold, breathy chuckle that came from the Kwami was so foreign to Marinette she looked around in case it was someone else making the noise. "I'm going to build an army...I'm going to make an army for me... no one will use me again..." Nooroo hissed at her. Heat flared from the bump on her back, but when she looked over her shoulder, it wasn't her that was in trouble.

Adrien pulled an unwilling Nino away as Alya slowly stood. "I'm too much. Too much for anyone to handle. No one wants someone like me around. Even my best friend is getting tired of me..." Alya spoke dully, a pair of dark purple wings unfolding from her back.

"Nooroo." Marinette gasped as Alya straightened herself and spread out her arms. "Nooroo what have you done to her?" Marinette stared at Alya, devastation threatening to overcome her.

Nooroo only chuckled again. Her hands went limp with panic as Alya turned to her, and Nooroo slipped from her grasp.


	6. Side step Turn

**A/N: If you were wondering why Nooroo is referred to as 'they' I just figured it'd be chill to have an ambiguously gendered kwami because why not? I hope you enjoy the chapter! It's about to hit the fan...**

Adrien watched as the same thing that happened to his father happened to Alya. Her eyes took on a purple sheen, and the wings that unfolded from her back spewed dark energy. It dispersed in the air and brushed his hand, feeling oddly familiar, something Adrien couldn't quite place in his head, but gave him an odd sense of calm. Like- it was time to focus, time to fight, not panic.

Nothing that Nooroo or Alya was saying made any sense to Adrien, but the footsteps to his left did. He looked around wildly, borrowing Marinette's strategy of 'notimejustgrabwhateveryoufind' and running to one of the still unopened closets. Flinging it open, he snatched a broom and ran back to hold it out in front of him just as his father arrived on the scene.

"Adrien." His father's voice sounded sluggish and...echo-ey? Reverberating like it was some cheap sound affect... or maybe it was a totally legit sound affect. Adrien glanced over at Nino and Marinette, who were trying to corner the akumatized (?) Alya. He shook his head. If only things made sense. Whatever had happened to Nooroo, whatever he did to them, Adrien could only desperately hope it was reversible.

"Father." Adrien responded, his voice lilting in sudden exclamation as his father's arms came swinging toward him. Steeling his eyes, Adrien batted away each swing with the broom, using it as if it was his Chat Noir staff. His father might've been akumatized, but it was weak, dull energy. His hits were hard and heavy, but poorly aimed. And they were slow, as if his father was tired...in fact...

The whole thing reminded Adrien of a dream. Or rather, a nightmare.

Ducking under his father's right arm, Adrien stepped around him to get a good look at his back, where the wings were sprouting from. Adrien impulsively reached his hand out to grab the moth-like wing, but his hand recoiled as soon as his fingers touched it.

"So _that's_ why it felt familiar..." Adrien murmured, backing down the hallway once his father had turned to face him again and advanced. The tingling ache, a shiver of dull pain up his arm that lasted only moments, but lingered as an aftertaste of powerful destruction. The energy exuding from the wings felt exactly like the energy from his cataclysm.

And if that energy was meant for destruction, what exactly was it doing to Alya and his father?

"La- Marinette!" He needed to tell her, maybe she would have figured something out too. Glancing around his father, still taking steps backward to keep out of his reach, he could see was trying to talk to Alya. Nino, however, was trying to get Adrien attention.

His best friend called out, pointing to something on the ground, neck to Adrien's foot. He plucked it up, a strange bronze object, resembling something like a wand. Or maybe a staff? There was a circle at the end of it, and as Adrien gripped the handle tighter, the circle creaked open to reveal a net.

Whatever it was, Nino apparently wanted it. Dropping the broom, Adrien stopped retreating, and instead he waited for his father to stride close enough to him.

His father was at least a foot or two taller than him. The large purple wings made him even taller; they grazed the ceiling, and left a triangle of space just over Gabriel Agreste's head. And his face? Glaring, a miniscule improvement from the emotionless expression that normally graced him. His father looked more than just angry. Devastated, infuriated, cold, hungry, lonely. Adrien struggled to place an accurate emotion.

He was the wall that Adrien had never been able to get past. The approval he sacrificed so much for. A void he had tried to fill with forgotten love.

Adrien needed both hands, so he bit down on the handle of the staff and held it between his teeth. Just as his father's hands reached out to grasp him, Adrien ducked again under his arms, but this time he jumped up. Adrien's hands gripped his father's shoulders like a vice, and he put all the muscles he'd gained over the years to flip himself so he could vault backwards right through the space above his father's head.

Once his feet hit the ground, he turned and placed a kick just in between the base of the wings on his father's back, propelling him forward a few feet. Then, he turned to Nino and dropped the staff from his teeth, wiping it on his shirt before handing it to his best friend.

Nino was gaping at him, and finally just shook his head. "We are talking about that later, dude." He said and Adrien couldn't help but grin. "Anyway, I have a feeling this thing is, I dunno, useful somehow? I just grabbed it randomly from the weird vault downstairs but..." Nino shrugged, his eyebrows knitted together.

Nino squeezed the handle and pushed it up, and the circle with the net opened further, becoming something like an ancient butterfly net. "Right...right!" Adrien went from confused to excited in his tone. Adrien looked past Nino and saw Marinette holding a sheet next to a newly ransacked closet. She threw it over Alya, who growled but couldn't do much as Marinette wrapped it around her thoroughly, managing to just leave her head poking out.

"Sorry if that hurts, Al." She spoke dejectly as her friend squirmed in the sheets.

Adrien glanced back at his father, who was collecting himself from the ground. If the sheet fits. "Nino, do you remember that purple, flying creature?" Adrien asked eagerly. Nino nodded, actually pointing a thumb over his shoulder at where Nooroo was hovering a few feet away from everything, watching. "See if you can use this," He gesture to the staff, "to catch it."

Nino's eyes lit up. "Aight. Can do." Adrien reflected momentarily on how often Nino and Alya had ended up helping Ladybug and Chat Noir over the years.

Adrien moved past Nino for a moment to reach into the sheet closet just as Marinette was, supposedly to wrap Alya in another one. "That's a great idea." Adrien commented as lightly as he could, but his voice was dipped in discomfort as he glanced at Alya.

Marinette looked up at him without raising her head, breathing heavily. "Would be better if I could actually help her." She muttered. Adrien put a hand on her shoulder. As much as he wanted to console her... "And your father. This feels so..."

Her eyes become downcast, and if Adrien didn't know her as Ladybug, he would think she seemed overwhelmed. But Ladybug was never overwhelmed... at least she never let Chat Noir see her that way. She always had everything under control. "We'll talk after I get my father cocooned too." He spoke gently, adding a wink in hopes of making her smile.

She nodded, shaking herself and giving him an unsteady smile, before turning back to Alya.

Adrien grabbed another sheet and mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared himself for what he was going to do.

* * *

Nino had gotten used to seeing his girlfriend affected by akuma victims, and vise versa. They'd talked through it many times, accepted that so long as they lived in Paris, that's what it would be like. Still, he couldn't help the pain that pulsated through his chest at seeing someone he loved be hurt so much.

His eyes met the creature's that he was trying to capture. He recognized something human about it, like it was trying to calculate something. Maybe it was deciding whether it was worth risking being caught for the chance to add Nino to his "army." As he edged closer and closer to the purple...bug thing, he could hear Alya talking to Marinette. Well, loosely termed as talking.

"You don't trust me, do you, Marinette?"

"You're always hiding things from me, I always feel like I'm missing something."

"I'll never be good enough of a reporter to matter to world, but I thought I would at least matter to you."

Nino winced, thinking only about how much Alya would be hurt when she came back to her senses. To Nino's subtle flinch, the purple bug reacted by zipping towards him. Oh heck to the no, Nino pivoted on his heel, cautious of letting the little thing get behind him for long enough to make him like Alya and Adrien's father.

He followed the bug with his eyes, constantly turning and moving in the tight space he had. He caught small glimpses of Adrien attacking his father with sheets, and Marinette talking soothingly to Alya, but most of his focus was honed in. Side step, side step, turn, side step, turn, side step, where'd it go, side step, turn.

Nino decided to just go for it. He swung the net as soon as he caught sight of the creature and swiped it in. As soon as he registered that he actually caught it, he jangled the handle, panicking as it didn't retract the way he thought it should. The little creature regained its bearings, and tried to fly out as Nino fumbled with the mechanism.

But, before it left the opening in the net, a glossy sheen blocked it. The net hummed with a strange sort of energy, and the creature released an outraged cry as it pounded against the barrier. Nino sighed, relieved. "I think I got it?" Nino suggested to no one it particular.

Marinette looked up and him and seemed to sag slightly in relief, and Adrien shot him a thumbs up as he finished with his father. "Guys, this is by far the strangest thing I have ever done." Nino admitted, and Marinette walked over to him. Her eyes were fixed almost dolefully on the purple creature.

"Honestly, me too." Adrien called as he trotted over to meet them.

Marinette held out her hand, and Nino passed the net to her wordlessly. She held it carefully, smiling at the small creature. "Nooroo?" Tiny, purple eyes stared at her with a sort of eerie expectancy. "We're just trying to help you. Can you tell us what happened?" The creature didn't say a thing, and Nino shifted uncomfortably in his confusion. Nooroo?

Feeling out of place, especially as Adrien stepped up to whisper something in Marinette's ear, Nino slipped from their huddle and went to kneel beside Alya. "Hey there, how do you feel?" He asked. She glared at him viciously. He leaned in and pecked her on the forehead. "Love you too, Al." He said with a small chuckle. Marinette had propped her up against the wall in a sitting position, and Nino slid down beside her.

"I'll stay with you until you do feel better, then."

* * *

Marinette glanced at the door for only a second, hearing murmurs of Nino idly talking to Alya. Marinette and Adrien had moved into the room just outside his father's atelier to discuss the miraculous and Kwami's in private. She was grateful that Nino went to Alya, wishing she could be the one consoling her friend right now. But she had to focus on curing Alya of whatever Nooroo did to her.

All of the things Alya had said stung Marinette worse than anything she ever said to herself. Her first priority would be helping Alya and then...then telling her everything. She couldn't bear to keep this secret from her anymore...especially...especially when she was hurting so much because of it.

She shuddered, thinking of just all the times she lied without remorse, and how maybe...maybe Alya could tell?

 _I really am just the wrong type of person for the job, aren't I?_

The bump on her back throbbed. "Marinette!" The net holding Nooroo still held firmly in her hand, Marinette toppled to the right as a small force collided with her cheek and knocked her off her balance. Tikki grabbed onto her cheek and didn't let go, even when Marinette flailed out her arm (the one not holding Nooroo) and leg in order to keep her balance. "I was so worried and you're okay and oh my gosh you did it and it's going to be okay but you're okay too and I'm so glad!" Tikki whisper-yelled her words, just like she did when she called her name.

"Tikki..." As her kwami finally let go and floated in front of her face, Marinette had to hold herself from breaking down. "Tikki...you're okay! When Nooroo came and he was acting all strange and you weren't with him I thought- I thought-" She closed her eyes, and Tikki set her own forehead on Marinette's. " _Are_ you okay?"

When Marinette looked up, her kwami was bobbing her head. Relief let her tense muscles relax for a moment. Marinette glanced at Adrein, who was whispering furiously to a ball of black that had curled himself into the crook of Adrien's neck. "And Plagg too, thank goodness." Marinette smiled as Plagg peeked out at her, albeit a bit skeptically.

"This isn't over yet." Adrien said in a cautioned tone, looking at Marinette as if he felt guilty spoiling the moment. Marinette only shook her head and gave him an encouraging smile.

"You're right." She brought Nooroo up a little higher. The kwami had crossed their arms, and was glaring at the floor. Marinette glanced at him, then Tikki, then Plagg, then Tikki. "How do we help him?" She asked softly, not wanting to upset them even further.

When Tikki didn't respond, Marinette bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder at the door. "And...how do we help Alya?"

Tikki and Plagg flew to each other and spoke too softly for Marinette to hear. She shared a look with Adrien that suggested he also couldn't hear them. Then he held out his hand to her. She tilted her head, slipping easily into a puzzled expression. He shrugged, with a small grin, and gestured to the net. A small noise of surprise squeaked from her throat, but she let him take it, and let her tired arm fall to her side.

"Alright." Plagg drawled out in his sharp pitched voice. "We have something to tell you kiddos, and it isn't going to be very pleasant."

The next few minutes passed in a blur of head nodding and shaking as Tikki and Plagg took turns explaining what had happened to Nooroo. Marinette gasped as they finished the story of what happened before. Nooroo didn't say anything the entire time, but his behavior, and earlier confessions, told Marinette all she needed to know. The entire time Plagg and Tikki explain...actually, ever since they caught Nooroo, she'd felt their gaze on her the entire time.

She let herself make eye contact with them as Plagg and Tikki let their explanation trail off to a close. Nooroo's eyes were on her, still, like they were expecting something from her. Expecting Marinette to realize something.

"To think, Chat Noir had that sort of destructive power this whole time..." Adrien mused, and then shuddered. "I don't even want to think about it."

And realize something she did. "You said that, because we have the miraculous on, you protect us?" Marinette asked. Plagg snorted, but Tikki just nodded gently. Marinette's hand edged it's way around her, and to the bump on her back. She remembered the pain she felt when Nooroo had first revealed themself to her.

Oh.

 _Oh._

As her eyes widened with the new epiphany, Nooroo finally looked away from her, seemingly satisfied. Several ideas ran through her head, and they stuck to her heart as if they were trying to keep it from beating. Pain flourished from her chest, and if she was alone she might've cracked on the outside as much as she did underneath.

Tikki told her that a Kwami can Metamorphose because their miraculous holder affects them. In Nooroo's case, the acts of evil turned him dark. But what about in Tikki's case? Marinette had never thought of the repercussions of her...depression. The self-hate that remained forever at the edges of her mind, covering her like a fur coat. Marinette had noticed over the years that Tikki would sometimes get lost in thought, would sometimes look sad. She'd attributed it to Tikki having feelings and emotion just like everyone else but...what if Marinette had unconsciously allowed one of her closest friends to feel the burden of her own pain?

Marinette glanced at the door. It wouldn't be the first time...

She took a deep, shaky breath. "What do we have to do to cure them?" She repeated her question from before.

"Something to do with Ladybug's power, right?" Adrien was confirmed by Tikki and Plagg once again nodding their heads.

Nooroo was looking at her again. She could feel it, and let her wide gaze drop from Adrien to the lavender kwami. "Just like any normal Akuma attack, then?" Adrien's voice was starting to pick up with a hopeful note. Nooroo looked Marinette in the eyes, then turned his head to look at the door, then back at her.

She shook her head, she wasn't understanding what they wanted her to. "Marinette's right, it won't be normal. It'll take a lot of willpower, and a lot more energy...but..." Tikki trailed off for a moment as if collecting her thoughts.

Nooroo looked to something beside Marinette's head. Oh. Her earrings? Then he looked to the door. Marinette straightened, finally understanding. "But I think that if anyone could do it, it's Marinette. Ma-"

"No."

Marinette's voice cut off Tikki's with a force so cold and foreign that she saw Adrien recoil slightly from the edge of her vision. She was still looking at the open door. Everything in the air felt different, she could feel the change like a winter breath of air on her burning cheeks. "Not me. Alya." Marinette corrected, striding to the door as soon as she decided to speak the words.

"Marinette?" Adrien and Tikki's voice called after her, but she could barely pay attention to anything but her own heartbeat and the voice screaming at her.

Always screaming.

Telling her things she doesn't want to believe.

So Nooroo's power makes people focus on the worst in themselves?

Marinette stopped just in front of Alya, gaining a weak sneer from the girl and a stunned ogle from Nino.

So Marinette does that to herself all the time anyway, she's lived with it for years.

Years.

"What's going on?" Nino asked as Adrien skidded to stop beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Marinette bit out the words as harsh as she could, harsher than she should've. Adrien's hand jumped back.

She kneeled next to Alya and took a deep breath. "You should get ready, I'm sure I won't be any friendlier than they were." Marinette spoke with conviction, but less venom as she took once last peek of Adrien, giving the boy with a perturbed expression as comforting a smile as she could manage. Then she looked back to Alya and quickly removed her friend's earrings.

Tikki was the only one to say anything, the rest observing in conflicted shock. "But Marinette, /you're/ ladybug." Tikki whispered, a sort of strange betrayal filling her voice. Marinette didn't have the strength of heart or mind to decode it.

Marinette removed one earring and very carefully put it on Alya. "I don't understand." Chat Noir's voice reached her ears just as she was about to remove the second earring. She paused for a moment, but just a moment.

Marinette muttered her words softly. "I'm sorry, but Alya doesn't deserve this. I do." Then she unclasped it and quickly transferred it to her friend.

The only way Marinette could describe the next few moments was a pure cluster of confused energy, spreading like a explosion from Alya and Marinette in the same moment. Everything was bright. And then, everything was dark.


End file.
